Here’s the familiar part: Blue-chip quarterback recruit. Frustrating freshman season. Decision to transfer.

Syracuse fans know the story from Cecil Howard, a promising SU freshman who just one year ago spent a redshirt season on the bench before deciding to transfer this summer.

Here’s where this story is different: Just four months after a freshman season as North Carolina’s starting quarterback and one month after announcing that he was leaving the school, Darian Durant faced a row of television cameras and announced his desire to return.

The story was an unfamiliar one — so unfamiliar, in fact, that few could conclude what would come next. Would Durant automatically reclaim the starting QB job? Would he be hurt by missing a bulk of spring practice? Would he be accepted back by teammates and coaches?

Now, Durant is taking a season to find out. When the Tar Heels face Syracuse on Saturday night at the Carrier Dome at 8, Durant will be the starting quarterback. He’ll also continue a story that, in most cases, would have ended much earlier.

‘I mean, if you make a mistake, you have to be man enough to admit that,’ Durant said. ‘I made a mistake. Sometimes pride can get in the way, but in this case, it was pretty easy to come back because I faced up to what I had done.’

Durant’s willing to admit his error, but neither he nor anybody else is ready to talk about what led to his initial transfer, announced Feb. 25 when he spoke, choking up at times, to a stunned media gathering.

Five weeks later, again facing the cameras, he simply said, ‘You never know how much you miss something until you’re away from it.’

The reasons he returned are much clearer. He established freshman records for touchdown passes, completions and passing yards at North Carolina. He also led the Heels to an 8-5 record and a Peach Bowl victory against Auburn.

So what was Durant lacking that freshman year? Not much, as he found out.

‘Young people make mistakes,’ Durant said. ‘For me, it took just a little while to realize I had made one.’

Durant still attended classes at UNC while mulling his decision, passing former teammates on the way to class and hearing the shouts and whistles of spring practice from his dorm room.

Meanwhile, he began a courtship with South Carolina, a school considerably closer to his Florence, S.C., home.

‘He was in the wait-and-see mode,’ said his high school coach Darryl Page, who conferred closely with the player and his parents. ‘He wasn’t sure what he was doing or where he was going — but he had schools contacting him all the time.’

Yet the Gamecocks, the team Durant wanted most, were slightly hesitant. They waited until after spring ball to offer a scholarship. And for Durant, the sounds of his former team’s spring practices became more and more enticing.

In a decisive meeting with head coach John Bunting, Durant voiced his desire to return.

‘I just realized that the guys I was leaving behind were like brothers to me,’ Durant said. ‘It’s a family-type atmosphere. I don’t look at them like teammates. It’s more than that.’

Few, though, expressed more pleasure with the decision than Bunting. Without Durant, the second-year coach faced the daunting task of starting a season with a threesome of quarterbacks who’d never taken a snap for the Tar Heels.

During Durant’s hiatus, Bunting kept a standing offer that Durant could return.

‘I’m not going to begrudge any of these young people, 19- or 20-years-old,’ Bunting said. ‘They’re going to make a mistake on Tuesday, and I’m going to forgive him on Wednesday. Now if they make the same mistake on Wednesday, that’s another story.’

Even with his forgiveness, Bunting wasn’t immediately willing to re-install Durant as his starter. At the end of spring practice — which Durant joined midway through — the sophomore shared the job with Florida transfer C.J. Stephens. Durant eventually pulled away, though, and started North Carolina’s opening game last weekend against Miami (Ohio).

It wasn’t quite the return Durant expected. The Tar Heels turned the ball over nine times, tying an ACC record. Despite 279 yards passing, Durant threw three interceptions as North Carolina lost, 27-21.

‘That is the first time I have ever seen Darian perform that way,’ wide receiver Sam Aiken said. ‘You definitely learn from that, and that will probably be the last time Darian will have that type of performance.’

Durant’s enjoyed plenty of performances on the other end of the spectrum, dating back to his career at Wilson High School. Page remembers the remarkable progression Durant made as a sophomore. He started the first game and completed just four passes, but two games later, he surpassed 300 yards and added three touchdowns.

The heavily-recruited quarterback spent half of his senior season on the bench healing a broken fibula. But in the games Durant started, Wilson averaged 60 points.

‘I am convinced that if he hadn’t gotten injured, we would have gone undefeated,” Page said, “and he’d have broken every passing record in South Carolina.”

Although North Carolina fans can likely hope for just a sliver of that dominance, they can take solace in Durant’s progress during the past year. Bunting mentions his increasing aptitude for leadership.

Teammates, once skeptical about Durant’s dedication, seem convinced that he is sincere. Perhaps most important, Durant speaks eagerly about his desire to reassert himself.

‘The main thing,’ Durant said, ‘is that I just want to go out and earn everybody’s respect.’

Said Bunting: ‘He made a mistake, and he’s owned up to that mistake. He’s done everything he can to repent. He’s very much a part of our football program, and he’s got a smile on his face every day.’

Bunting knows he’s fortunate. It’s a smile that, in most cases, he’d never get the chance to see again.

Published on September 4, 2002 at 12:00 pm